Waze + Google Maps Advertising For Builders – Is It Right For Your Community?
Jonathan Wilhelm
There has been some big news in the digital world recently (Announced May 24th) and Marketshare’s Digital Division is on top of it for you. Here are the latest opportunities we are implementing for builders right now:
First let’s tackle Waze:
Put your community on the map to reach millions of drivers and everyday commuters via Waze and Google Maps.
Marketshare will handle adding your community to Waze, marketing budget/bidding, analytics/result reporting and making sure it is shown to drivers approaching your location or searching nearby.
Wazers are just a tap away from discovering and navigating to your business!
Now let’s tackle Google Maps:
You’ve probably seen it coming, and now Google has finally taken the plunge as advertisements are finally coming for local business. IE your new home community! The ads are still in the experimental phase but we are getting started and want to include you.
Why is this big? It is a fact that a third of all searches done on mobile are location based and that google displays a map for any searches it deems as local pushing all other content far away from users or in our case buyers.
The local search ads are being introduced across both Google Maps and Google.com. The search ads will appear on not only the mobile version but also the desktop version of Google Maps and act as a powerful tool for luring buyers who are nearby.
Google’s own words are “Ads on Google Maps make it easy for people to contact, find, and make their way to your business location,”
Savy marketers like Marketshare and yourself who deploy the location extensions will have the ability to showcase the location of their business when a prospective consumer or buyer searches for “new homes” or “real estate” near them, for example.
To continue Google also states (just substitute community for store): “Local business pages are also getting a brand new look — to encourage consumers to explore your store before they even arrive, we’re adding new features like special offers and the ability to browse product inventory,” Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google’s SVP of ads and commerce.
There are a few tricks to get going early and Marketshare Digital is on it. For example: Part of the change means that only ads with location extensions will be available to show on Google Maps. Also, you can place a small logo image over your physical locations.
Here is a screen shot Google shared of both mobile and desktop. You can see the purple ad label in the maps results:
Our constant goal is to make staying up on all the latest digital marketing opportunities super simple to set up and see results. We can offer a complete turnkey solution or custom tailor any campaigns. Give us a call to get started with Waze and Google Maps ads before other builders even know what’s available!
Extra: Last week, Google announced the addition of shopping ads to Image Search. So when a person looks up photos of, say, a new home, Google will display relevant promos from its partners. We have already received some interest from builders are building out ads specifically for this purpose.
